Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)

I am sure the Minister has heard the song, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Tipperary town has been forgotten by successive Governments. We were promised and had great hopes for an outer relief road or bypass. The N24, which is to be the M24, is trudging along ever so slowly, and God knows when we will see the funding for it or see it developed. Tipperary town is choked with trucks, lorries and cars and business cannot flourish there either because it is choked with trucks on a daily basis, from early morning until late at night. The infrastructure is bursting at the seams. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, gave us great hope that we would have a bypass of the town as part of the footprint of the M24 or an outer relief road. Nothing has happened in design or anything else. We are on the eve of an election and Tipperary town is languishing and left behind once again. It is very frustrating. Jobs for Tipp and March for Tipp were all organised together six or seven years ago and there were great hopes but they have all been dampened and left behind by the Government once again.

See this speech in context